India is a democratic country with diverse ethnic cultures, languages and traditions, due to which there is a diverse list of spoken languages. India is a union of states consisting of 28 states and 8 union territories. There are many types of languages in India, that is why it is said, “ Water changes every mile, speech changes every mile”, that is, here water changes at every mile and water changes after four miles , which makes India a diverse linguistic country. Questions often arise in people’s mind regarding national language like what is the national language of India? What is the official language of India? Therefore, we will discuss the answers to all these questions.
National Language of India
Till now no language has been given the status of national language in our Constitution. Although Hindi was declared as the official language, it was spoken by only 40% of the Indian population, which created a barrier for the rest of the population as they needed to learn Hindi. Therefore currently there’s no national language of India. Due to the diversity in India and to preserve that diversity we opted for the concept of official language rather than a national language. Choosing a single language out of 100s of languages that were being spoken in India could have hurt national unity and integrity. We currently have language for official government work only. Apart from the official language, the Official Languages Commission has also listed 22 official languages including Hindi and English, which we will discuss here.
Official Language of India
As we know that in India there is no single language which has been declared as the national language but there are two languages which have been declared as the official language of communication by the national government. These official languages are: Hindi and English. The official languages are used to carry out the government work throughout India and ensures that the government orders and documents are easy to understand for everyone in India.
Official Language: Hindi is the language used when communicating with Hindi-speaking states, while English is the associate official language used when communicating with states.
Minority Language: On the other hand, Mahal is the language of Minicoy whose number of speakers is less than 10 lakh and it is considered a minority language of India .
Scheduled Language of India State-Wise
The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution includes 22 languages which have been selected as scheduled languages of India. Below is the list of all the official schedule languages of India:
| National Language of India List 2023 | |
| Language | State |
| Assamese | Assam, Arunachal Pradesh |
| Bengali | West Bengal, Tripura |
| Bodo | Assam |
| Dogri | Official language of Jammu and Kashmir |
| Gujarati | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Gujarat |
| Hindi | Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal |
| Kannada | Karnataka |
| cashmere | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Konkani | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala (Konkan Coast) |
| Maithili | Bihar, Jharkhand |
| Malayalam | Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry |
| Manipuri | Manipur |
| Marathi | Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu |
| Nepali | Sikkim and West Bengal |
| Oriya | official language of orissa |
| Punjabi | Official language of Punjab and Chandigarh, second official language of Delhi and Haryana |
| Sanskrit | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand |
| Santali | Santhal is spoken by the Santhal people mainly in the state of Jharkhand as well as in the states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Odisha, Tripura, West Bengal. |
| Sindhi | Gujarat and Maharashtra, especially Ulhasnagar |
| Tamil | Tamil Nadu, Puducherry |
| Telugu | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry |
| Urdu | Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Jharkhand, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal |
Addition to the 8th Schedule in Indian constitution
The 8th Schedule of the Indian constitution talks about all the official languages recognised by the government of India. Initially there were 14 languages in the 8th Schedule however new languages were added in this list of languages as per the needs and demands of the nation. Therefore currently we have 22 scheduled languages in the 8th Schedule for the Indian Constitution. Below is the list of languages that were not present in the original constitution.
- Sindhi language was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.
- Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali were included by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992.
- Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali were added by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003 which came into force in 2004.
Conclusion:-
So this was all about the national language of India. Till now you must have understood that there isn’t any national language in India and India is a nation that truly respects its diversity. This step has truly protected the integrity of the nation and has found a mid way to carry out the work of government without hurting any group’s sentiments.
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